Cat's Claw
by incandescens
Summary: Smoker's missing, Tashigi needs to rescue him, and Black Cage Hina has a plan. Set shortly after the Alabasta arc.
1. Chapter One

**CAT'S CLAW**

**CHAPTER ONE**

"Hina vexed!" Black Cage Hina, Colonel in the Marines, feared by pirates across all four oceans plus the Grand Line, slapped a pile of reports down on the desk in front of her and glared at Tashigi. (Currently lieutenant in the Marines, and capable of making a few pirates mildly nervous once they'd seen her use a sword. She had a long way to go yet.)

"Ma'am," Tashigi tried wearily, "with all due respect, I've been requesting information on Colonel Smoker's whereabouts from other sources as well. They don't know either. The reason I came to ask you again was . . ." She tried to think of something that sounded more flattering than _I know you know where he is and you know I know you know but you aren't going to admit it_. "Rumours are starting to go around. I'm not the only person asking. There have been some reports from Roguetown . . ."

"Roguetown!" Hina picked up a pen from her desk, and flung it across the room. It embedded itself neatly in the second wanted poster from the left by the door, and oozed a long thread of black ink across the smirking pirate's face. "If Smoker had done what he was supposed to and stayed in Roguetown in the first place, we wouldn't have had this mess to deal with! Hina extremely vexed!"

Tashigi crossed her fingers behind her back, commended her soul to any gods who might take an interest in protecting Marines, and looked as innocent as she could. "Well, ma'am, given the reports say that Smoker was last seen heading east of Alabasta following a particular log pose into part of the area previously controlled by Crocodile, and that three sailors who were on his ship were brought into your office last night and are currently under medical care and heavy sedation, all sorts of rumours . . ." She gave up on subtlety, and leaned forward to rest her hands on Hina's desk. "Ma'am, you know where Colonel Smoker is! I just want to help! Please assign me there too!"

Hina examined her nails.

"He's my commanding officer!" Tashigi shouted at her. "He went off without me because he was ordered to, and I know he's got into trouble! I can't just sit here and do nothing!"

"How did you find out about the sailors?" Hina asked in tones of mild curiosity.

Tashigi realised that she had been yelling at a superior officer. Who was one foot. Away. From. Her. "Um," she said weakly, and tried to lean backwards again without making it too obvious. "I followed Jango, ma'am."

"And was anyone else following him?"

Tashigi thought back. "No, ma'am. I don't think so."

"Good." Hina stared at her flatly. "Lieutenant Tashigi, your opinions are taken under advisement. Now I have a pile of reports to read through. I am going to want to talk to you again in half an hour exactly. You are going to wait outside. And talk to nobody." She raised one perfectly manicured finger. "Lieutenant, I am thinking about something. While I am thinking about it, you do _nothing_, you say _nothing_, and you sit where you are told to sit. Am I understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Tashigi exclaimed, snapping a salute.

The door had never seemed so inviting.

* * *

Half an hour later, Tashigi knocked nervously on the door.

"Come in!" Hina called.

Tashigi took a careful step through the door and closed it behind her, trying to maintain the maximum distance at all times between herself and her superior's desk. Not that that would save her from thrown missiles, but it would help with the temptation to grab Hina's shoulders and scream at her some more. "Ma'am. Reporting back, as you ordered."

Hina nodded. "Lock the door, lieutenant. We need to speak in private."

Tashigi felt her mouth dropping open in surprise. She closed it with a click, quickly turned around to lock the door, then marched over to the desk and assumed parade rest. This was beginning to look promising. "Ma'am."

Hina looked up at her appraisingly. "To answer your earlier question, lieutenant. In the absence of Crocodile, someone is attempting to build their own little pirate empire. Smoker went to investigate this. Something went wrong. Smoker is missing. This cannot be public news. Do you understand me?"

Tashigi folded her hands together behind her until she could feel the bones in her fingers creak, but kept her face still. _Smoker. Colonel Smoker. Missing._ "Yes, ma'am," she said, voice steady.

Hina's voice softened. "Good. Now here's the good news, lieutenant. Colonel Smoker went in publicly and obviously, and it looks like they were waiting for him. The _next_ mission is going to go in quietly and incognito. We need someone from the Marines on it, someone who can handle themselves but who isn't a recognised name like Smoker or like me."

Tashigi brightened. The sun rose somewhere. Little birds sang hallelujahs. Elsewhere, Roronoa Zoro grunted in his sleep and kicked Sanji. "Colonel, do you mean --"

"I might do," Hina said gravely. "It depends on one thing. When I say incognito, I mean that the next mission is going to look like the only sort of ship that can travel freely in those waters. That means pirates."

Tashigi considered this sanely and sensibly for an appropriate length of time. The part of her mind attempting to wave white flags and point out that cooperating with pirates was never a good idea, viz. Monkey D. Luffy, etc, got run over by the locomotive trailing steam signals of **RESCUE COLONEL SMOKER**. "I guess I can play along if it's necessary, ma'am," she said bravely. After all, once she'd rescued Colonel Smoker, there could be happy wholesale arrests all round.

"Lieutenant." Hina took a long breath. "I'm not going to try to mince matters. This is not only a dangerous mission, it is a deniable one. You won't have a squadron of Marines at your back. You won't be able to call for help until things are sorted out. Possibly not even then. You are going to have to work _with_ the person I have in mind -- no, more than that, you are going to have to follow orders. This isn't going to be pretty." Her eyes shadowed. "The only reason that I am sanctioning this is because if what's out there can take down Smoker as easily as it apparently did, then we need to deal with it now. Justice, lieutenant."

Tashigi nodded firmly. Her stomach clenched. Could she actually work _with_ pirates, as one of them? "Colonel -- when you say incognito, you mean that I'd be disguised as a pirate?"

Hina nodded.

"And if they started raiding villages, then I --" She could taste bile now. No. No, she couldn't do that. Not her, not her sword.

"That shouldn't come into it." Hina smiled in what might have been meant to be a reassuring fashion, and tapped the new stack of reports that had grown to cover most of her desk's surface. "This particular area is full of small pirate groups. They spend all their time at odds with each other. Crocodile kept them that way. With him gone, someone else is rising to prominence. We've got rumours. Nothing more. But with Smoker vanished -- well. Hina concerned."

"Yes, ma'am," Tashigi agreed, and breathed a private sigh of relief. Killing other pirates. She could do that.

"So." Hina flattened her hands on the desk and leaned forward. "Lieutenant, if you say yes, then from now on Lieutenant Tashigi has a relapse of her knee injury and stays here on my ship in the infirmary. Someone else leaves. A corporal, perhaps. Corporal . . . Hime. A corporal with a record of bad discipline." She made a gesture with one hand, though Tashigi hadn't tried to interrupt. "Keep listening carefully. Corporal Hime is going to be doing courier duty, and she will be on the packet run to Hawk Island tomorrow morning. At Hawk Island, they've recently captured someone who we think is rather more than they think he is. This person will be receptive, we believe, to an offer of payment and to us permanently _misplacing_ his record. He is a very intelligent man. If anyone can do a recon mission and find out what's going on out there, he can. Do you understand?"

Tashigi's brows drew together as she frowned. "You intend me to present your offer, ma'am, break him out of jail, and then join his crew as a deserting Marine."

"That's right . . ." Hina raised a delicate eyebrow. "Corporal?"

"Corporal, ma'am," Tashigi said firmly, and saluted.


	2. Chapter Two

**CAT'S CLAW**

**CHAPTER TWO**

Tashigi navigated through a blurred haze, and wished that she could put her glasses back on. Unfortunately, they were among the things that seemed to make her distinctive to other people. (Which just went to show that other people were crazy – after all, the _really_ distinctive thing about her was her blade Shigure, but hardly anyone else seemed to notice it.)

Hina must have done a really excellent job of giving her a bad record. None of the other Marines wanted to talk to her at _all_, except for the ones who for some reason thought she'd be interested in astronomy and kept on trying to get her to go for private strolls to look at the stars. Luckily they got discouraged easily. Especially when she said that she wanted to polish her sword in private.

But they'd arrived at Hawk Island without anything really serious happening.

Perhaps it was a good thing that her vision wasn't currently at its best. The place was a hive of scum and villainy. She'd already had to walk past three cases of blackmail, two of armed robbery, five of unarmed robbery, three of encannoned robbery, one of arson, one of assault, five of dangling out of window by ankles . . . really, she should come back here with Colonel Smoker once he was on the loose again. It'd be the sort of invigorating rest cure that would do him good.

The local Marine base had clearly been built with local needs in mind. It was institution grey, institution ugly, and institution heavy. It had all the grace and charm of a heavy iron box, and if it hadn't been for the half-dozen men who had for some reason insisted on mentioning a set of loose bricks in the back wall suitable for climbing over in order to reach a local tavern, Tashigi would have been quite worried about her chances of breaking someone out of prison.

She handed over the dispatches that Hina had given her, saluted, bumped into the commandant's door on the way out, and set off to explore the place. It was the standard Marine layout, though with more bars than usual over the windows.

Finally she located the jail cells. The usual set of photographs, names, and bounties were plastered over the wall nearby, and she frowned at them, her nose up against the inky paper, as she squinted at the posters, looking for a particular one.

No, wait. This was the normal set of Wanted posters. She could tell this because she was staring into the smirking, sneering, brazenly infuriating face of Roronoa Zoro, scumbag among scumbags, disgrace to the name of swordsmen everywhere, and thoroughgoing example of the corruption of the day.

Five minutes later, her knuckles still aching from a bit of applied therapy on Roronoa's poster, she found the one she wanted. The man in it was inoffensive, his glasses sliding down his nose, his worried smile the picture of eagerness to please the nice Marines.

It was very recognisably the same man as the picture which Hina had shown her on the old Wanted posters, decommissioned due to the death of the pirate involved.

**Name: Unknown.**Good, they hadn't identified him yet.

**Identifying Marks: Wears glasses.** Fortunately a number of short-sighted pirates did that, particularly the ones who wanted to survive and not walk over the edge of their own ship.

**Identifying Weapons: None.**That stood to reason. If he'd had his usual weapons on him, he probably wouldn't have been captured.

**Circumstances of Capture: Pulled out of debris after collapse of Bloody Bill's Tavern during Happy Hour (see damage report and expenses claim).** Hm. Sounded like an accident. Well, that made sense too.

**Charges: Has to be guilty of something.**Ah, the classic Marine standby, otherwise known as "if you were hanging around there then you must be guilty of something". Tashigi had never actually needed to apply it herself, mostly because she was too busy running after Colonel Smoker, and anyone he was chasing was _automatically_ guilty, de facto, de jure, de whatever.

It was mid-afternoon. There weren't any scheduled inspections for a few hours. After a bit of polite chit-chat with the officer in charge of the cells, and an offer to check his current guests against the latest bounties from headquarters, she found herself strolling along the corridor, peering hopefully at the pirates behind the bars.

Conveniently, her target was in the end cell. The pirate jailed alongside him was snoring noisily. The granite bars rattled in sympathy as she walked past.

"Excuse me, sir?" she said politely.

The man's pale blur of a face tilted in her direction. He was lying comfortably on the pallet against the far wall, legs crossed, arms folded behind his head. "Yes, miss?"

_Get his interest,_ Colonel Hina had said.

"I'm here about a deal," Tashigi said quietly. It took an effort to keep the self-disgust out of her voice. She'd practiced in the privacy of her cabin, but she still wasn't sure that it was working. "I'm from the Black Cage."

The man on the other side of the bars swung round and brought his legs down, sitting up on the mattress. "I beg your pardon?"

_He'd be stupid to admit anything at first,_ Colonel Hina had said. _And the one thing he isn't is stupid. So first we give him a reason to listen to what you have to say, and then we give him a reason to cooperate with you._

"It's about the criminal record of Captain Kuro," Tashigi said quickly. "You know? The man who was executed almost four years ago? There were some rumours he was back, but Colonel Hina doesn't believe them. In fact, she's quite certain that they're false. That is --" She realised she was babbling, and cut herself short. "Of course, they are false, aren't they?"

Even without her glasses, she could feel the intensity of the man's stare. "Of course," he agreed blandly. His voice was that of a teacher or a shopkeeper, rather than a dangerous pirate. "And does Colonel Hina the Black Cage have anything else she'd like me to know?"

Tashigi's hand twitched for her sword hilt. "Um, she thought that if you weren't here, you might like to go somewhere else in order to investigate something. She said to me that she was almost certain that if you were to do that, then she'd be only too happy never to hear of Captain Kuro again." She thought of the packet which was weighing down the luggage in her room. "There would be a down payment, too. In ready money."

The man rose from his pallet and strolled across to face her through the bars. He was close enough now that she could make out his facial expressions. For the moment, he seemed to be going for Blandly Unconcerned, with just a dash of Curiously Interested, seasoned by a hint of Invincibly Ignorant Innocence, and a touch of Mass Murder in his narrowed eyes.

"Speaking of which," Tashigi added hastily, "I want to join your crew. I'm a good recruit. Really."

"You want to join my crew?" the man asked, as though he couldn't believe his ears.

"It's sort of a package deal." Tashigi restrained the urge to grab the man through the bars by his loosely swinging tie, haul him nose to nose, and inform him that he was taking the mission, Or Else. "First there's the bit where your faithful crew breaks you out of jail tonight. Then there's the bit where you head off, um, I've got the dossier for later. Then there's the bit where Colonel Hina hears everything's sorted out and she loses your record and everyone agrees that Captain Kuro died three years ago and the base here is so embarrassed about a prisoner escaping that they forget you even existed."

"And that last bit is easier to arrange if Colonel Hina has an observer on my crew? Would that be it, Lieutenant Tashigi?"

She twitched. He smiled.

"We have a deal." He walked back to his pallet, and seated himself again, resuming his earlier slouch. "Provisionally. Contingent on your performance tonight."

Tashigi gave him a curt nod before she strode away, and tried to decide whether or not she should be pleased by his agreement.

* * *

The night sky above Hawk Island glittered with a sprinkling of diamonds, pure and fine, high above the pettiness of pirate thefts and bar brawls.

Tashigi lurked in a back alley behind the Marine compound, and nerved herself for action. The black leather gear that Colonel Hina had provided her with made her near-invisible, she tried to convince herself. She was a sleek shadow in the night, a panther on the prowl, a trained expert on the stalk.

Her shoulders were bare. She wished desperately for her usual Marine jacket to cover them.

With a quick flick of her fingers, she shoved the new gold-tinted spectacles down over her eyes. Another present from Colonel Hina, who had made several extremely pointed comments about distinguishing features and that it was all on Marine expenses anyhow so Tashigi need not feel embarrassed about taking it, this polite diffidence is all very well, lieutenant, now pick those items the hell up and put them in your backpack, yes madam.

Time.

She clambered up the wall via the protruding bricks, and hung at the top for a moment as she peered over. The area directly between the wall and the building was clear, and the patrols wouldn't be round for another half-hour, so now was the time to strike. Surgical extraction, she tried to convince herself. Precise rescue mission.

The very thought of the words "breaking a pirate out of jail" made her blush to her ears yet again. Good lieutenants didn't _do_ things like that.

She sidled through the doorway, sprinted down three flights of stairs, picked herself up off the floor, and tiptoed down the corridor towards the jail cells.

"Hey," said a young male voice from behind her, "you don't look like a --"

Tashigi turned, drawing her blade in one smooth movement. "I'm not," she hissed, doing her best imitation of Nico Robin (for want of any other immediate female pirate role model that she could think of), and slammed the flat of her sword into his head.

He went down and stayed down.

Now, what would a pirate do in a situation like this? Oh, yes. "You should have kept out of this," she hissed down at his unconscious body.

Hm. Strangely satisfying. She probably needed to work on the delivery. Oh, wait. Yes. Rescuing Captain Kuro. She dragged the Marine into the nearest storage closet, stuck a broom through the handle to keep him in there if he woke up, and continued through the base.

Tashigi reached the corridor of jail cells without further incidents, and paused round the corner from the guardroom. Assuming the Marines in here were competent, they wouldn't leave their posts for less than a full base-wide alarm, and she didn't have the resources or inclination to set up one of those. Better to get things over fast.

She walked into the guardroom, sword already drawn. The two Marines sitting there barely had a chance to look up from their card game before they were both unconscious.

Key ring in hand, she strolled down the corridor to Kuro's cell. There was a hushed silence as she walked past cell after cell, and drop-jawed pirate after drop-jawed pirate crowded to grab at the granite bars and make imploring gestures at her.

Kuro himself was still lying on his pallet. He looked up with a mild air of curiosity.

"Captain," Tashigi said through gritted teeth, and turned the key in the lock of his cell. The click as the door came open had a horrible air of finality to it. _This is where you stop being a Marine. This is where you really start being a pirate._

He came to his feet like a cat, and stalked to the door, snatching the key ring out of her hand as he passed her. Her hand trembled as she struggled not to grab for the hilt of her sword. "How long do we have?" he asked.

"Fifteen minutes till the next patrol out at the back, sir," Tashigi answered.

"Right." He tossed the key ring through the bars to the man who'd been in the cell next to him. "I'll let the rest of you sort yourselves out."

Tashigi reassured herself that the other pirates in these cells were all fairly petty criminals, and shouldn't pose a significant challenge to the Marines in the base. _Just a distraction. That's all._ "This way, sir," she said, and led the way at a trot.

They nearly made it to the door to the courtyard before Tashigi heard the shouts and crashes from below. She turned on reflex to look back to the stairwell, but Kuro grabbed her wrist before she could complete the movement. "That'll do nicely," he commented dryly. "I take it there's a convenient point to climb the wall."

She gaped. How could he have known that? "Yes, sir, but . . ."

He made a dismissive gesture, releasing her wrist. "Marines gravitate to drink. Going out through the front gate takes too long. Every Marine base in the world has a secret way out over the back wall."

"There are two of them!" a voice yelled from behind them.

"Come on!" Tashigi gasped, and ran out into the courtyard -- still empty, thank goodness -- and towards the back wall. She couldn't hear Kuro following her.

Oh.

That was because he'd somehow got past her and was already halfway up the wall.

Perhaps the protruding bricks were a tiny bit obvious.

Now what would a pirate do under these circumstances? Flee like a cowardly rat, of course. A cowardly sweating rat, running away like the sneaking squeaking Roronoa Zoro did . . . wait, she was getting distracted again. A pirate who actually wanted to impress her future captain would probably dispose of the Marines.

She reversed her blade and took down the first of the Marines, then slammed the second into the wall, stunned the third, nearly lost her glasses, staggered backwards several steps while resteadying them on her nose, ducked the swing of a bludgeon, went up on her toes, saw that five more were coming, decided that enough was enough, turned round, and ran for the wall. Kuro was sitting on the top, watching with an air of mild interest, the lamplight glinting on his glasses.

"Stop them! They're escaping!" yelled a Marine behind her who clearly loved stating the obvious.

Kuro reached a hand down for her once she was close enough, and pulled her up with surprising strength, helping her clamber over the top of the wall. They both tumbled over to the other side. He landed gracefully. She landed in a jumble of arms and legs.

". . . yes, I suppose I should have expected that," Kuro stated. He grabbed her by the shoulder and hauled her to her feet. "Come on, Claw. We have to get moving."

"Claw?" Tashigi asked, blinking.

"Your name." He pulled her down one alley, then up another, then through an archway and into the maze of streets that housed the town's inns. "From now on, your name is Claw, you are a deserter from the Marines whom I have recruited, and if you betray me, I will kill you without a moment's hesitation. Am I understood?"

Tashigi's hand twitched.

"And don't salute," he added.

"Yes. Sir."

"Good." He smiled. It changed his face, transforming it from sealed bland darkness to apparently open cheerful mild-mannered gentleness.

Tashigi wasn't remotely reassured. "Ah, sir -- I'll need to pick up my backpack from the inn I left it at earlier. It's got the documents in."

Kuro nodded. "I'll come with you." _So as not to lose track of you,_ the unspoken words hung between them, and for a moment Tashigi had to suppress a shiver. Far too many proverbs about having tigers by the tail were milling around at the back of her mind and waving red flags for attention.

_This is for Colonel Smoker,_ she reminded herself. _He's still my real superior. This is just -- temporary._

"Lead on, Claw," Kuro said. He was still smiling.

_. . . And the smile on the face of the tiger._

* * *


	3. Chapter Three

**Cat's Claw**

**Chapter Three**

Creak, creak, jar, creak, it went. Creak, creak, jar, creak.

She'd fallen asleep in the pile of hay, her hand curled around the hilt of her sword, prickly stalks digging into her bare shoulders and arms. Her tinted glasses muted the merry glare of the sunlight.

Creak, creak, jar, creak, and the once-in-every-few-dozen-revolutions tinkle from Kuro's bag where he'd propped it against the side of the hay wagon.

That would be the blades. Ten of them. Collected on their way out of the city from Kuro's lodgings. He carried the bag very lightly, very easily. You wouldn't have thought, seeing him swing it at his side, that it had ten blades in it.

Fortunately they hadn't had to use them. While the freed prisoners ran shouting and shooting down to the docks, and all the Marines ran after them in varying degrees of coordination, she and Kuro -- _your new Captain, make sure you think it as well as just say it, or your cover's going to slip_ -- she and Captain Kuro had been picking up their belongings, paying their bills, and arranging a quiet exit from the port at dawn on one of the hay-wagons belonging to a farmer who'd come in to sell his produce.

Creak, creak, jar, creak. "Your thoughts?" Captain Kuro enquired.

Tashigi blinked. "On what, sir?"

Captin Kuro hissed an annoyed breath between his teeth. He was sitting upright, back against the side of the wagon, knees bent to support the folder of papers she'd handed over, feet braced against a plank in the wagon's flooring. "The situation."

Tashigi looked up at the blue sky rather than at her captain, trying to assess what he wanted from her. "Colonel Smoker isn't stupid," she finally said, "and even though he is confident, he wouldn't go putting his men in danger by sailing into the teeth of a gauntlet of cannons. He must have been taken by surprise. But I haven't read the full reports yet," she added hopefully.

"Mnh." Captain Kuro flipped back a page. "Let me summarise. Your colonel was, as you thought, being careful. Went in quietly and made contact with the local Marine base on the target, Brandy Rock. At least a dozen overt pirate ships in port, but nobody tried anything. Maybe it was his reputation."

Tashigi smiled vaguely.

"So he went to pay a 'friendly call'," Kuro's tone dripped with derision, "on the actual person in question, Bonney himself, and took some of his Marines with him."

"One or two dozen, sir?" Tashigi inquired.

"Two dozen." Kuro tilted his head and raised his hand to adjust his glasses. "Does that make a difference?"

Tashigi nodded. "If it had been just a dozen or less, that would have been a polite call. If it was two dozen, then he expected trouble, or meant to make trouble. Sir."

"Ah. How convenient to have you as an assistant." He flipped the page back again. "In any case, after about an hour the remaining Marines received a summons from the colonel to join him at Bonney's headquarters at once. Delivered by one of the men who'd been with the colonel, a written order signed by the colonel. Totally unarguable."

"No wonder they didn't believe it," Tashigi said briskly. "Colonel Smoker wouldn't bother writing an order down and signing it like that."

"And none of the crew realised that?"

"There were . . . some problems, sir," Tashigi admitted reluctantly. "After the Alabasta business, a lot of the regulars on our ship were injured. This was supposed to be just a quick in-and-out mission -- or so I've been told," she corrected herself hastily, "and Colonel Smoker had to take some different regulars."

"Yes. And why weren't you there?" The question went in smoothly, like a well-edged blade.

She'd had time to think about that. She'd had quite enough time to turn the question over, by day, by night, and it still lay like a worm inside her mind. There should have been another solution. "My knee was dislocated during the Alabasta business."

"How?" Kuro interrupted.

Tashigi could feel her mouth thinning to an angry line. "Nico Robin."

"Ah." Oddly, Kuro sounded moderately impressed by this. "Go on."

Tashigi shrugged, then pulled herself up and leant forward to try and get fragments of hay out of her leather vest. "The doctor was very -- outspoken on the subject." _Damn sawbones._ "He said that if I didn't have it seen to properly and stay off it for a few days, it wouldn't heal properly. Colonel Smoker," _damn commanding officers,_ "put me on temporary reassignment."

"Foolish to leave a reliable officer behind," Kuro commented to his papers.

"That's what I would have said," she agreed.

"Would have?"

"Um. He wasn't available to say it to, sir." Indeed, that had been one occasion where he _had_ written an order down. She'd found it sitting on the desk by her bed when she woke up from the operation.

**Tashigi. I need a second-in-command with a working knee. You're serving under Hina till I get back. Smoker.**

"And the knee's better now?"

"Much better, sir," she said vigorously. "Hardly gives me any trouble at all. The doctor said it'd be fine for anything short of an invasion."

"Well. Isn't that reassuring." Kuro tapped a finger on his folder. "In any case." Creak, creak, jar, creak. "After receiving the written order from Colonel Smoker, most of his men went trooping off to do what they were told. A few stayed to keep guard on the ship. They were then swarmed by the pirates in the nearby ships. A neat little operation. A couple of them got away, and made it to near Bonney's headquarters, where they saw Colonel Smoker apparently on good terms with him. Deciding that matters were way above their heads, they got out of town on a supply ship, and managed to reach your Colonel Hina. And that's it."

Tashigi frowned thoughtfully. "Colonel Smoker's very hard to beat in a fight," she finally said, and couldn't keep a trace of pride out of her voice. "But he could be trapped. Sea granite, for instance."

Kuro pushed his glasses up with the palm of his hand. "And the written order?"

"Forged." She thought about it. "But it must mean that this Bonney didn't know Colonel Smoker very well."

"And the fact that your Colonel's apparently on good terms with Bonney later?"

Tashigi sighed. "I can't explain that, sir."

"Oh, don't worry about it." Kuro smiled blandly. "I spent years with Jango as my first mate, remember, Claw? There are ways of affecting people's minds. One might even say that the stronger physical types have less mental resistance."

Tashigi chewed that over. It could be taken as an insult to Colonel Smoker. Then again, it could also be seen as a snide reference to Straw Hat Luffy, and she had absolutely no problems with him being insulted. She compromised on, "You think it's some sort of hypnosis or mental control, then, sir?"

Kuro twitched a shoulder. "That would explain the current situation. Though to be able to control a lot of people, especially Marines, as easily as that . . . I admit that I'm curious."

Tashigi wasn't entirely sure that she liked the look in Kuro's eyes at that moment.

---

The good thing about sitting with her back to the prow, Tashigi reflected, was that nobody could creep up on her and try to do something . . . stupid. There were all sorts of stupid things people were trying to do to her, and they ranged from pulling at her new fluffy ears to trying to dislodge her glasses to assassination attempts to certain types of physical proximity.

Kuro -- Captain Kuro, that was -- had informed her that he didn't want his crew damaged in a way that would take more than a couple of days to heal. This significantly cut down her options, especially when there were sharks in the nearby waters.

Siam and Butch had left her strictly alone. She was sure she could take them if she had to. Well, fairly sure. If they were working together and got the drop on her, she could have problems. It might be difficult. They'd exchanged a peculiar, furtive look when Captain Kuro had announced that she was joining the crew. She was still considering what to make of it. It hadn't been the sort of look that signalled _Captain's got a new pet, avoid trouble with her_ that any Marine was familiar with. It had communicated something, though, and she was still wondering what it was.

Tashigi polished her sword and watched the crew.

They were awful. They were disgraces to the name of sailor. No self-respecting Marine captain would have tolerated them for a moment. Hell, most self-respecting pirate captains wouldn't tolerate them for a moment. Half of them would have been over the side and the other half wouldn't have _survived_ to make it over the side. Perhaps they could be vicious enough in a charge, but when it came to reliable cooperation, the only thing that united them seemed to be complete and absolute terror of their captain. They were like birds twitching under a cat's eyes, trying to imitate predators but failing.

It didn't make sense. Why did Kuro _bother_ with crew like this? What did he actually want?

Siam approached. He didn't walk directly; he never did. He somehow sidled forward in a straight line, with smoothly swaying steps that never quite faced the onlooker. Tashigi knew enough of him from the records to make sure that he didn't get a straight grab at her sword.

"A word?" he inquired.

Tashigi gave a curt nod. "Sure."

He curled down near her feet, folding his arms round her knees and gazing up at her. "Just so you know," he remarked quietly in a friendly, conversational, somehow oily tone, "Butch's watching us. So shall we avoid anything too obvious?"

Tashigi swallowed. This was starting to feel uncomfortably like intrigue. "I'm listening," she said, and hoped that it sounded threatening.

"Right." He rested his chin on his knees. "Now first of all, Claw, this isn't a challenge, and it isn't a threat. Right? We're just talking to you like a new crewmate, in a friendly concerned sort of way."

Tashigi sniffed, in a neutral sort of way. "And the we is you and Butch, I take it?"

Siam leered in a way that could have been mistaken for a grin from a distance. "I knew you were bright. Yup. We is me and Butch. Now, you might have figured that since we go way back with Captain Kuro, we'd kinda know more about the sorta thing he'd be up to than you might."

"I'd wondered about that," Tashigi agreed.

"So, yeah." Siam paused to lick a fingernail. "Now, see, sometimes the Captain takes on temporary help for particular operations. And it's kind of obvious at the moment that he's got something in particular in mind. Now we don't have any problems with that. Oh no." He showed his teeth in a grin. "We're all in favour of the Captain doing whatever the Captain wants to do. You can quote us on that." He waited for Tashigi to comment, then when it was obvious she wasn't going to, he continued. "But me and Butch, we figure that once the Captain's finished that particular plan, he wouldn't need that particular temporary help any longer."

Tashigi moved the polishing cloth along the blade of her sword in one smooth sweet moment before asking, "And you -- figure -- that would be a good moment for the temporary help to leave the ship?"

"Hey." Siam flashed a sharp-toothed grin again. "Think of it as being good for your health, Claw. The Captain doesn't like . . . loose ends."

"And you don't like people taking your position," Tashigi replied flatly.

"Like I said. Bright." He smoothly rose to his feet, stretching his shoulders before returning to his usual stooping posture. "Word to the wise, Claw. Me and Butch, we wouldn't lift a finger against the Captain. But when the current plan's over, well -- let's wave goodbye like friends."

Tashigi tried to smile calmly. "I'm just like you, Siam. I'm not going to cross the Captain."

He smirked and walked away.

---

That night, Kuro invited her to his cabin. It was a large room, especially when compared to the broom-closet that she'd been allotted, and it had hardly anything in the way of decoration. He nodded to her to take one of the chairs at the table, and stretched himself out in the window seat.

"Sir?" she asked.

"We're almost there." He folded his arms behind his head and leaned back. "I thought we'd just have a little talk before we arrive, Claw."

Tashigi tried to work through the permutations of this. Kuro wasn't known as the "Captain with a Thousand Plans" for nothing. Perhaps she was expected to say something so that he could react to it? Or was she supposed to react to that so that he could counter-react? Or . . . She frowned. "Sir, let's just assume you won the argument and go on with the briefing."

Kuro gazed at the ceiling. "Very well. Now. We'll be walking around and finding out what's going on, just like any visiting crew of pirates might. You're coming ashore with me. I'm prepared to assume your good behaviour, Claw, but I'm not going to be _quite_ so cruel as to put you under that level of stress. But if I'm doing that, then you're going to have to keep calm and look professional, whatever happens."

"I'd expected that, sir," Tashigi said through gritted teeth.

"On the other hand . . ." Kuro tilted his head to give her a thin little smile. "This isn't going to be the sort of investigation where long planning will be a virtue. We'll probably have to act rapidly once we've assessed the situation. Keep yourself in check, Claw. Remind yourself that it won't be too long a wait."

And that was so obviously bribery to her desire to see Colonel Smoker safe, so _very_ obviously a sop thrown to keep her under control, but she couldn't help but accept it. "Sir," she said with a nod.

"Next question. Will your Colonel be likely to recognise you as you are?"

Tashigi had been thinking about that. "I wouldn't have thought so, sir," she said hesitantly. It wasn't as if he normally noticed anything that didn't involve Marine matters, pirate matters, or immediate physical threat. "At least, not if I'm not doing anything unusual. But if I have to draw my sword, _that_ he'd recognise."

"Your sword. Hm." Kuro drew in his breath with a thoughtful hiss. "I could order you to leave it behind on the ship, you know."

Tashigi felt herself twitch before she could control the reflex.

"But why deprive a useful agent of their best weapon?" He gave her that smile again. This time it was much less reassuring. "Tell me. You're the expert. How much can you disguise the hilt and sheath?"

Tashigi unhitched the sword from her belt, sheath and all, and laid it on the table to consider it. "The sheath's easy, sir. The hilt . . . I can't do anything about that without affecting the balance of the sword."

"Very well. See if you can alter the sheath. Otherwise, don't draw it unless it's a command from me or you've got no other choice."

Once again, Tashigi said, "Yes, sir," and bit her lip. Here she was, taking the commands of a pirate captain, and it was galling enough to make her physically sick to her stomach, but it was necessary. She had to help Colonel Smoker. Colonel Hina was relying on her to do the job.

She looked across the table at Kuro thoughtfully. Of course, there was going to be (and she wouldn't let herself think otherwise) a moment when the current job was over, and when, as Siam had put it, they'd be waving goodbye to each other. When that moment came, all bets were off, and she'd be saying something quite different from, "Yes, sir," to Kuro.

He gazed at the ceiling. Without turning to look at her, he remarked, "Just one thing, Claw. You aren't the sort of person I'd waste my time threatening to kill. You're not the sort of person who listens to that sort of threat. And your Colonel's already in enough danger that I don't think I could make it any worse. But if you disobey my orders, if you betray me, then, Lieutenant Tashigi, besides everything else which I can and will do, I will take that sword away from you and I will give it to the sort of person you have nightmares about."

Tashigi felt her face become a mask as she struggled for self-control.

"You're dismissed, Claw," Kuro said. "Shut the door behind you."

---


	4. Chapter Four

**CAT'S CLAW**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

The Brandy Rock dock looked perfectly peaceful.

"So how many wrong things can you spot?" Captain Kuro inquired from where he was leaning against the rail.

Tashigi raised a hand to shield her eyes as she squinted at the dock. "Too many ships, sir," she said confidently. "At least five different flags that I know, and several that I don't. There's no way that those captains would all be cooperating with each other, or even tolerating each other. I'd expect half the town to be in flames."

"Good," Kuro commented. "And?"

Tashigi frowned. "No guards, either. Just one little man over there taking names and fees. Even in a well-regulated place, having him do it on his own without a guard would just be asking for trouble."

"And?"

"Someone's taken over the local Marine Outpost and is flying their own flag above the Marine one," she commented. "It's the usual skull and crossbones, with a five-petalled rose on the forehead."

"Is that anyone you know?"

She shook her head. "I know about two hundred recognised pirate flags, sir. That's not one of them."

"You do keep busy," he remarked.

Tashigi shrugged. It wasn't as if one could expect Colonel Smoker to keep track of that sort of thing. "Can be useful, sir. Anyhow, it supports the thesis of someone new trying to put a coalition together."

"That it does. Mm. What do you make of the wall paintings?"

There were a number of brightly coloured scrawls on the port walls. They weren't identifiable pictures, no matter how much Tashigi stared at them, but they did somehow seem to be in the same style. "Don't know, sir," she eventually said. "Maybe they've been having an urban renovation program?"

Kuro sighed. "Indeed, they may have been doing something as utterly pointless as that. Get yourself in order, Claw. You, me, three sailors as backup. Siam and Butch stay here to keep an eye on the ship and deal with any attempts."

"Attempts at, sir?" she queried, straightening her fluffy ears.

"Attempts at anything," Kuro stated flatly. He called to the steersman, "Bring us in! Carefully."

---

The little man on the dock came running up to catch the rope thrown from their ship and make it secure as they docked, then stood there amiably with a clipboard and pen. He didn't look aggressive. He wasn't even carrying a sword.

Other sailors leaned over the rails of their ships and watched in bland passive interest.

It was too nice. Tashigi could feel the area between her shoulderblades twitching.

"Name and ship, sir?" the little man asked helpfully.

Kuro looked at him and adjusted his glasses. "Captain Kuro," he intoned. "You will know my ship."

The little man smiled perkily. "Oh yes, sir! So good to see you! You're a legend in your own lifetime!"

"Better than after it," Kuro remarked. "We're expected?"

The little man chewed his lip. "Well, sir, I've got instructions that anybody of your, ah, calibre, should be requested to call in at the Headquarters for a top-level discussion."

"The Marine Headquarters?" Kuro enquired, and Tashigi blinked at the image.

"These days we just call it Headquarters, sir," the little man said cheerfully. "Much easier that way. We're all a very cooperative bunch round here. Now, if you wouldn't mind signing here, here, and here -- thank you very much, that'll do nicely. Do enjoy your stay on Brandy Rock!"

Kuro turned to Tashigi and the crew as the little man trotted off. "I don't expect to hear any disturbance from you while I'm away," he stated amiably. "However, if you get word from me -- the usual passwords, Siam, Butch -- then I expect assistance rapidly. Understood?"

The entire crew saluted, and Tashigi found herself doing so as well.

"Very well." He swung his bag over his back. "Let's go."

---

Town was unnervingly quiet. Tashigi darted quick glances to right and left as she brought up the rear of their party; first Kuro, then the three sailors, also hushed and nervous, and then herself at the back. The weight of her sword was a comfort. Without it she would have felt utterly alone.

Everywhere, those wall paintings, those great scrawls of colour. She thought of commenting on it to Kuro, then realised there was little point. He could hardly have missed them. With a deliberate effort she kept her pace to a saunter, slowing it from her usual stride, and eyed the world suspiciously through the golden tint of the glasses which Colonel Hina had given her.

Suspicious. Right. That was what a pirate would be. (Aberrations like Straw Hat Luffy and his crew didn't count. They'd already have charged in by this point, anyhow, and would be wrecking the place with cries of glee. So much for investigation.)

Marine Headquarters -- she refused to think of it as "just Headquarters" -- had a couple of actual Marines standing outside, just as it normally would. She felt herself tensing. What if someone recognised her? What if they said something? What if they attacked Captain Kuro on the spot and she had to defend him and hurt one of them . . .

. . . of course they were saluting him and asking him to enter. Life was _so_ annoying sometimes. She gritted her teeth and pasted a watchful smirk on her face. _I am the Captain's incredibly dangerous bodyguard. Ignore me._

The three sailors got diverted elsewhere by some of the Marines. Oh, that itched, that really got under her skin, seeing Marines apparently doing what they were told by some _pirate_. They left her with Kuro; possibly a Captain was expected or allowed to have at least one minion with him when seeking audience for a "top-level discussion", even if they still hadn't been told who it was with yet.

The paintings tracked along the walls here inside, too. They were all quite recent; wall paintings inside Marine outposts were (a) against regulations, and (b) didn't survive to get old anyhow due to natural wear and tear and banging people against the walls. It was highly probable that they had something to do with what was going on. She didn't look at them too closely.

Kuro crooked a finger, and murmured, "Claw."

She stepped over briskly. "Sir?"

"Cover my back," he said, and led the way into the main reception area.

---

"So you're the famous Captain Kuro." The woman lounging in the chair at the end of the hall caught the eye; behind her, the coloured scrawls of painting across the walls seemed to point in towards her like the pathways of a maze. Several pirate captains who Tashiki recognised from the Wanted posters were grouped in a corner of the hall, playing cards together with Marines still in full uniform, and --

-- yes, there was Colonel Smoker. Tashigi looked away from him, only letting her eyes rest on him for a single moment, so that she could know he was well and healthy and sane, before looking back at the woman again, and remembering to guard Captain Kuro's back.

The woman was sitting with one ankle folded over another, reclining in her chair with every non-verbal signal possible of _at ease and happy with it_. She had short dark hair cut to the nape of her neck, brushed back at her forehead to either side, framing her face, and round glasses that were pushed up into her hairline and holding the hair back. Her face was precise, elegant, with defined arching eyebrows, and she was smiling. Her leather jacket was open at the collarbone, the wings of the collar turned up to frame her neck, and a fraction of bosom showed. A cigarette dangled between the fingers of her right hand.

Kuro gave her a precise half-nod, shifting mannerisms easily and casually into something that was more like an upper-class servant than the pirate captain. "I am, madam. And you are?"

"Bonney," she said, smiling. "Call me Bonney. I apologise if my request that you drop by has inconvenienced you."

Kuro shook his head. His glasses slid down his nose slightly, but he did not move to correct them. "Not at all. I always like to know what's going on in the places that I visit. I hope that I'm not inconveniencing anything?"

"Oh, no, not at all. But I hope that you'll hear me out before you go."

"But of course," Kuro said mildly. He folded his arms. "Please go on."

The patterns on the walls of the room nagged at Tashigi like the verge of a headache. She squinted behind her glasses, flicking a glance to the left, then to the right, but never at Colonel Smoker, no, ignore his casual laughter and his comment as he deals out a hand of cards, something's been done to him and by god she's going to fix it but not right now, she has to keep a stone face and be Claw of Kuro's crew or risk letting everything out and wasting all the preparation so far, and for it to be her fault that it failed would be the bitterest pill of all. She focused on Bonney and tried to remember anything she'd heard about the woman. Nothing. And that in itself had to mean something, didn't it?

Bonney took a drag from her cigarette, stained fingers flowing into a graceful curve of the arm. "I'm proposing an alliance among pirates in this area. Not -- believe me, not -- anything like Crocodile's game with Baroque Works. I'm sure you've heard about how that went down. No, I'm thinking something much more rational. I have ways of making sure that the Marines stay away from boats in my group. Now, if we simply don't raid each other, then all the merchant ships out there are clear profit. I'm not talking about huge mountains of gold. I'm talking about cooperation and us all doing much, much better for ourselves."

"Hnn." Kuro gave her a thin-lipped smile. "I like your way of thinking, Madam Bonney. It seems sensible. The big question is, how do you propose to do it?"

Bonney pointed her cigarette at the group playing cards. "I don't propose to give away all my methods, Captain Kuro. It'd be far too risky. I'll just point at my results and let you think about it."

Kuro gave a little nod. "I trust that I'll have time to think?"

"I'd appreciate a decision by tomorrow," Bonney said equably. "No hard feelings if you say no, of course. But in the meantime, I'd be happier if you were to stay in the vicinity. We've got plenty of spare rooms here, with the Marines all going out on spontaneous patrol duties."

"Of course." Kuro quirked his lips again. "I wouldn't think of leaving."

---

When they were alone in one of the Headquarters guest rooms -- newly adorned with those damn paintings all over the walls -- Kuro turned and raised an eyebrow. Tashigi nodded, and tugged at an earlobe, then turned, scanning the room, trying to remember where the usual hiding-places and listening-vents were. Every Marine Headquarters had a few rooms that were designed to be listened in on, and Tashigi was sure that Bonney would have put them in one of those. After half a minute she nodded firmly, and indicated a vent at the top of the east wall.

Kuro nodded in response. He folded down into a chair and lounged in it, leaving Tashigi to stand by the barred window and look out over the square below.

Tashigi stared at the people crossing the square. Mid-afternoon. Perfectly normal. Everything looked so normal, except for those paintings everywhere -- and something was snagging her memory now, something about _paint_ that she'd come across recently . . .

"It's very impressive," Kuro said idly. "All so well-organised. I have to admire it."

"Of course, sir," Tashigi agreed flatly. This was, no doubt, for the benefit of those listening.

"You noticed the people in the corner?"

She nodded. "All very -- well, organised, sir."

"Indeed." He reached into a pocket, flipped out a notepad, and scribbled something on the front page, then turned it towards her as he said, "We'll need to send a message back to the ship. I wouldn't want anyone trying anything while I'm considering."

Tashigi leaned forward to read the note. It said, **Hang sheets over the walls.**

She nodded, and strode over to the bed. As she briskly dismantled it for sheets, she said out loud, "Naturally, sir. Wouldn't want to destabilise the situation."

"Of course not," Kuro nodded. "And we'll be here in the meantime."

"Doing anything in particular, sir?" Tashigi asked. Surely he could think of a way to give her a hint about his plans without letting any eavesdroppers know. This was Captain Kuro, after all. He'd invented sneaky. He had to have a plan.

"Why." Kuro adjusted his glasses with the flat of his hand. "Thinking about it."

---


	5. Chapter Five

**CAT'S CLAW**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Tashigi prowled the corridors, looking for anything (or everything) suspicious. Captain Kuro had declared a need for further information, and left her behind as he strolled away with his best imitation of casual harmlessness.

Not that she needed him at her back. Not that she _wanted_ him at her back.

She turned a corner, and almost ran into Bonney, who was loitering there, cigarette in hand.

"Hello," Bonney said.

_Die, evil fiend who has hypnotised Colonel Smoker!_ "Hello, ma'am," she growled, and reminded herself very firmly that this was a case of picking time and opportunity, and not simply charging in.

Bonney smiled, and blew a ring of smoke from her cigarette. "I thought we'd just have a little talk," she said. "Woman to woman."

Tashigi adjusted her position. Her hand itched for the hilt of her sword. "Of course, ma'am," she answered politely.

Bonney sighed theatrically. "And now you're going to tell me it's Captain to Bodyguard, or something like that? Oh, don't try to pretend." Her smile was as polished as glass. "I can see you're a professional. How about we have a little talk, then, professional to professional."

Tashigi felt her mouth twitch a little. The woman was disarmingly charming. _Pirates usually are,_ she reminded herself. "Certainly, ma'am," she replied.

"I thought I told you to call me Bonney." She shook herself free from the wall gracefully, and wandered across towards Tashigi. "Don't you remember?"

Tashigi hesitated before the words came to her. "You gave that permission to my captain, ma'am. Not to me."

"Oh. Well, I'm giving it to you now." She rested a friendly hand on Tashigi's shoulder, her skin warm through the thin leather. "I'd like to think we're going to be the best of friends."

Tashigi twitched her shoulder. It wasn't enough to move the hand. "Ma'am -- Bonney -- I wouldn't want to be your enemy." It was what a sensible pirate would say, she assured herself.

"Walk with me." Bonney's arm slipped round her shoulder, and Tashigi knew her tenseness must be perceptible. "We can talk about all sorts of things."

Tashigi looked at her sidelong from behind her tinted glasses. "Such as what, ma'am?"

"Captain Kuro."

Tashigi maintained a stubborn silence for the next few paces.

"Oh, I'm not asking you to tell me anything _vital_." Bonney had a pleasant, sweet laugh. "Just a few general things about him. For instance, do you think it's worthwhile for me to recruit him?"

"Captain Kuro doesn't need me to puff his reputation," Tashigi said flatly. "Everyone who matters knows it already."

"Everyone who matters knew that he was dead," Bonney pointed out. "It's a truly amazing resurrection."

The walls that they were strolling past had those paintings on them, long scrawls of colour that almost made sense if one looked at them for too long.

Tashigi wasn't stupid. She kept her attention on Bonney. "The Captain's a private sort of man," she answered. "I've never liked to ask him . . ."

"If he was alive or dead?"

"Seems awfully impolite, ma'am," Tashigi agreed. "I've always felt he'd know that sort of thing without me needing to ask."

Bonney laughed. She really did have the most wonderful laugh. "And how about yourself, Claw? Have you any ambitions?"

Tashigi swallowed. "I'm not made to be a captain, ma'am." _Not a pirate one, anyhow._ "I've always seen myself as attached to a good commanding officer who wanted a good bodyguard . . ."

"Oh, good," Bonney said. Her smile curved at the edges, to somehow become as edged as Tashigi's own sword. "Because I've been feeling that I could use a good bodyguard."

Tashigi almost stopped in her tracks. She jolted back into movement a pace behind and out of step. "But, ma'am . . ."

"Think of it," Bonney suggested, "as moving up. Exchanging one commanding officer for another one."

Tashigi thought frantically. For all she knew, Captain Kuro would positively approve of the matter. Dispose of her and sail off into the sunset. This wasn't something that she could refer to him. "It's a matter of personal loyalty, ma'am," she invented desperately. "How could you trust me if I'd just go over to you at a moment's notice?"

"Absolutely," Bonney said warmly, and Tashigi realised that it had been a test in itself. "More and more you seem to be the sort of woman I need at my back, Claw. It's a difficult thing, being at the top. Everyone has eyes on your position. I need someone to guard my back. Someone I can trust. Someone with standards. Someone who won't hesitate to speak her mind."

_And if I said yes, then I could get her to let go of Colonel Smoker, and that'd be him free, and then I could work out what to do next . . ._

"This is all very flattering, ma'am," Tashigi said. The wheels in her mind went round and round, spun loosely, and gave up and hung there letting off smoke. "I honestly don't know what to say. Perhaps I should take the matter to Captain Kuro to ask if he would like to, um, oblige you in this way."

"Oh, I wouldn't bother him with this," Bonney said carelessly. "I'll raise the matter with him when I get round to having a private chat with him. If I consider it appropriate. I just thought I'd sound you out first. I've always felt that one can tell a commander's character from looking at the people who serve under him. Or her."

"And, just out of interest, ma'am." Tashigi kept her eyes on the ground in front of them. "If I should feel like leaving Captain Kuro's service and coming over to you on the spot?"

"Well then. Kuro wouldn't be an issue any longer, would he?" There was something terribly satisfied about Bonney's tone.

"I see." Tashigi swallowed. "Perhaps if you could give me a few hours to think about this, ma'am? I need to . . . spiritually prepare myself."

Bonney squeezed her shoulder, then released her. "I'm so glad we had this little heart-to-heart, Claw. I'm sure we'll deal well together."

Tashigi gave her a formal half-salute, and realised a fraction too late how Marines-trained it was.

Bonney's eyes narrowed. "Well now. And to think I didn't know anything at all about your background. Do tell me, Claw. What happened?"

Tashigi looked Bonney in the eyes. "I . . . walked out, ma'am. After a few little disagreements. I felt that my talents would be better appreciated elsewhere."

"And are you still being looked for?"

Tashigi shrugged. "Not in this quarter. One of the reasons I took employ with Captain Kuro was that he was going somewhere they wouldn't be looking for me." There, that sounded nicely authentic. "Of course, that was a few years ago."

"About the same time," Bonney said, her eyes narrowed, "as Kuro himself dropping out of circulation and being presumed dead. What _was_ going on there, Claw?"

Tashigi didn't answer.

"I think I'm going to need your decision very soon, Claw," Bonney said. "Preferably before tomorrow. And if it should come accompanied with a very final and definite separation between yourself and Captain Kuro, well, who am I to complain?"

She smiled, and gave a little wave of her hand. "See you later," she said, and sauntered off down the corridor.

---

It was three corridors later, as she paused to stare out of a window, that memory finally got around to connecting the rigging and running up the flags of recall. Painting. Art. Mind control. Baroque Works.

There had been that woman -- what was her name, now? Miss Goldenweek. That was it. The artist who was able to change moods through the colour of her paints. _That_ was what had been nagging at the back of her mind. If one painter could do it, so could another, and was it too unreasonable to connect the new paintings all over the place with the astonishingly placid behaviour of everyone from pirates to Marines?

But in that case, why wasn't it affecting her, or Captain Kuro . . .

She touched her spectacles of tinted glass. Maybe they affected the colour of the paintings and somehow blocked or weakened the result. Maybe it was just that she and Captain Kuro were short-sighted and accustomed to living with it. Maybe they _were_ affected and the first thing they'd know about it was when they happily signed up with Bonney.

Another piece clicked into place at the back of her mind. If short-sightedness and spectacles could temper the effect, perhaps that was why Bonney was so eager to have her dispose of Captain Kuro, or (more likely, alas) Captain Kuro dispose of her, or both of them kill each other. She wasn't entirely convinced by Bonney's offer of employment. It was a little too fast and a little too convenient.

The worst case scenario was that Colonel Smoker had recognised her, and then told Bonney about it, but she didn't _think_ that he had. She was sure that he would have reacted more strongly if he had. She'd been working under him for years, after all. That made some sort of bond, even if it was the sort of bond that involved a lot of shouting and her running after him and tripping over things.

She flexed her leg cautiously. Knee still working fine. Absolutely no reason to worry. Totally healed. Definitely.

So why didn't Bonney just order her "loyal" men to take care of Captain Kuro and Tashigi? An interesting question. Perhaps they weren't quite as loyal as they looked, or perhaps Bonney didn't trust her control of them in an actual fight. Either had possibilities. Maybe a quick surgical strike, when Bonney wasn't expecting it . . .

Common sense pointed out that Bonney would be expecting it. Bonney did not seem remotely stupid. This was an occasion for one of Captain Kuro's incredibly clever plans.

Assuming that Captain Kuro could be trusted.

---

Outside the window, a few floors down, she could hear the rattle of weapons in a salute. It warmed her to know that the Marines were still being at least that, well, Marine-like.

"What news?" a voice demanded.

"New flag sighted," another reported. "Still half a day out or more, but heading our way."

"A known flag?"

"The Straw Hat pirates."

Tashigi straightened, a sudden and unaccustomed feeling of sheer horror curdling in her stomach. It wasn't that she was scared of _them_. It wasn't even the urges she had to push Roronoa Zoro's nose through the back of his skull. It was the mental picture of what would happen if Bonney got her hands on them, together with the little dotted arrows and labels which her subconscious insisted on supplying. That, and the fact that the odds of someone recognising her would jump rather more than somewhat . . .

She glanced up and down the corridor hastily. No sign of anyone watching her. Hopefully she hadn't given herself away. She had to find Captain Kuro and tell him.

---

At the bend of the next corridor, she found him, his bag slung over his back.

"Claw," he greeted her, with an inclination of his head.

She held onto self-control viciously, and mentally stamped on any displays of emotion until they were well-subdued and begging for mercy. "Sir," she responded.

"I've been having some very interesting discussions." There was an edge to his voice that he hadn't had since the first time that they'd met. "More to the point, Claw, I hear that you've been having some very interesting discussions."

Oh -- oh now, surely he couldn't think that she'd sell him out to Bonney, that she'd seriously consider going over to Bonney -- "Sir," she said hastily, "perhaps we should talk in private . . ."

"I don't think that we want to do that, Claw." He swung his bag around, sliding one hand into it. There was a shifting whisper from inside it, an echo of steel on steel. "It could be . . . misinterpreted."

She could feel eyes watching them, even if she couldn't tell where from. "It's urgent news, sir."

"Not so urgent that I'm going to turn my back on you." His hands crossed in a sliding blur of movement, and the bag slipped to the ground, leaving him gloved with ten long vicious claws of steel. "Draw your sword, Claw."

"You -- you don't want me to fight you, Captain?"

"No." His voice was just the same. Light. Barely inflected. Calm. "I don't expect it to make the least bit of difference whether or not you try to fight. Ah, Claw. You never were very good at grasping reality, were you? Time's up."

---


	6. Chapter Six

**CAT'S CLAW**

**CHAPTER SIX**

With an effort, Tashigi kept her hand from the hilt of her sword. "Captain, surely you wouldn't kill me when I hadn't even drawn blade against you --"

"It'd be a great deal easier than killing you when you had," he cut in. "Let's not play games, Claw. I know about your little approaches to our host. Did you honestly think I'd tolerate that kind of disloyalty?"

There was something in the way he phrased that, something which nagged at Tashigi. If Kuro had wanted to impress Bonney, he could easily have revealed her as a Marine spy and turned her over. She was sure that Bonney could do all sorts of interesting and unpleasant things with Marine spies. Which meant that Kuro might be playing a role here, just as much as ever, and she just needed to work out what it was and what her own part should be in reply.

It would help, she felt, if he could give her a few more clues. But if this was meant to look like a convincing fight . . .

"Don't think I haven't heard what you're planning," she snapped back, letting her hand close round the hilt of her sword. "Were you going to sell me out, then? Me and your crew as well? Was I just supposed to lie down and wait to die?"

There. She hadn't misread it. There was just a fraction of a shadow of approval in his eyes. "Foolish pirate," he said. "It would have been better for you if you had."

She backed away from him down the corridor. They had to get somewhere where they could talk without being overheard. "Just let me go, sir," she suggested. "Let me take service elsewhere. I've no call to want you dead if we can part on good terms."

"There's only one place that this can go, Claw," he said blandly. "Prepare yourself."

His blades scraped against each other. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

She backed further away, coming out into a large room with the ubiquitous paintings on the walls. A small group of mingled pirates and Marines who'd been playing cards in the corner looked up as they came in, and promptly scattered to the corners to cower there.

Tashigi wished _she_ had a reputation that dramatic.

Kuro burst into motion, too fast for Tashigi to follow his passage. His blades whirred through the air. She felt herself lose a lock of hair, parrying frantically as she was forced back and further back again, ducking and stepping, her knee complaining at a particular sidestep, and came to a halt midway through the room panting for air.

He really was that good. She was torn between admiration, fear, and a hope that he might just be good enough to get them both out of it and deal with the matter, and just a touch of annoyance that he was so much better than she was.

"It seems that I will have to extend myself," he said calmly. "Congratulations on your brief survival, Claw --"

Tashigi's brain whirred like paddlewheels, and clicked up some remarkably precise descriptions of what Kuro's ultimate attack was, as delivered by people who'd viewed the dead afterwards.

"It won't last long."

With a brief moment of prayer to any gods that had a soft spot for Marines -- after all, surely there had to be _some_ -- she hit the ground and lay there flat as the air above her exploded in blades and screams.

A long breath later, there was silence. Kuro was standing above her, blades splayed out like claws, and the air was thick with plaster. It cascaded down from the walls where the paintings had been sliced into scrawls, and it dusted her in white, and powdered her glasses.

Kuro prodded her with a foot.

_If he had wanted me dead, I'd be dead, so since I'm not dead . . ._

She didn't grunt or cough. She lay there like a sack of potatoes, one eye flicking open for a moment then closing again.

"So perish all traitors," Kuro said calmly. "Can any of you gentlemen tell me where to find Bonney?"

One of the cowering pirates was forced out of corner by the combined pressure of everyone else trying to hide behind him. "Um, she's probably in the map room, sir."

"Excellent," Kuro said. "You may lead me there."

"Yessir," the pirate whimpered.

Kuro walked away. He didn't look back at her.

---

Tashigi lay there and thought. She realised that she had a very limited period of time. Captain Kuro had bought her that much, and bought himself a little longer to operate as Bonney's apparent ally. There had to be something that she could do.

So what did she know? She knew that Bonney was working through the painted designs on the walls. What she didn't know was how long their effect lasted. She knew from a report about the Goldenweek woman that her effects worked instantaneously but also wore off pretty much instantaneously. But Kuro had sliced the paintings in this room to bits, and the pirates weren't immediately turning on each other or getting arrested by the Marines, so the effect couldn't be instantaneous here. But it couldn't be permanent, either, or Bonney would already have minions out all over the place, and wouldn't have to keep her growing band here like this.

And there hadn't been any ships patrolling the area, either. Not even Marines. So logically, the effect might not even last the _day_.

The pirates and marines grumbled to each other, then left the room, muttering about how someone else could remove her body.

If only she had Colonel Smoker in his right mind, to take charge and sort it out . . .

Colonel Smoker . . .

Smoke . . .

Marine bases were generally laid out the same way, or at least on the same principles. Her mind was working properly now, flipping down card after card in a particularly smooth and successful solitaire pattern. They were arranged so that they could be defended from fixed strongpoints inside the base, in the event of pirate invasions, and that included internal anti-intruder mechanisms to rout pirate scum out of the place. She'd heard of some places that were rigged up to allow water flow to be directed through the tunnels and passages to flush the place clear. Nothing like that here, but it should have the standard smoke bombs in the armoury, and the standard ventilation systems.

Fill the place with smoke, and vision no longer became an issue.

And even if it didn't break Bonney's hold on her minions, she and Captain Kuro were used to operating with reduced vision. Far more so than anyone else here.

She let her eyelids flicker open. The room was empty.

In a single motion she was up, tripping over, picking herself up again, and running.

---

Fortunately the news wasn't generally out yet that she was dead. Tashigi had considered draping herself in a bloody sheet and claiming to be a ghost -- or, more reasonably, finding ordinary clothing and pretending to be a servant -- but the first was the sort of excess she'd expect from Straw Hat Luffy's crew, and the second would probably require her to take off her glasses, so neither was acceptable.

What was more, everyone's loyalty to Bonney was working in Tashigi's favour. She was able to get right up next to the two guards on the Armoury door (both Marines, sadly, they should have had better instincts about standing guard, she'd have to speak to their commanding officer about it) while claiming to be on orders from Bonney before they thought to say, "Huh?"

They didn't have a chance to say anything else.

She propped their unconscious bodies against the wall, rifles draped across their chests, and hoped that they'd pass for asleep to the casual observer. One of them had been carrying the key, and it turned easily in the lock. Too easily. This argued current use. That was bad.

Tashigi stepped into the Armoury, and realised just how bad it was.

The stocks of rifles were seriously depleted. The same for cutlasses, powder, bullets, cannonballs . . . all the basics that a crew of raiders would need. It all argued that Bonney was on the cusp of moving. She and Captain Kuro had got there just in time. Fortunately, there was still an acceptable stack of smoke bombs. She suspected that this was because they weren't convenient weapons for open-deck warfare; the wind usually carried the smoke away too fast.

For a moment, the immensity of what she was about to do seized her. She was about to assault a _Marine Base._ Good officers just didn't do things like that. She was going up single-handed (well, unless you counted Kuro and his crew) against a whole horde of hypnotised and probably still, she reflected glumly, extremely competent fighters (and please, please let Colonel Smoker somehow stay out of it all till it was sorted out). What was she _thinking_?

She leaned her head against the cold wall for a moment, and took a deep breath.

The stupid image of Straw Hat Luffy came to her mind. Furious, battered, exhausted, but still able to fight, demanding that she tell him where Crocodile was. Was she going to do any less than a pirate?

Tashigi gritted her teeth. No. She was not. And what was more, she had a time limit. It wasn't just until Bonney found out that she was still alive; it was until the Straw Hats got here, because if they fell under Bonney's mesmerism, then her window of opportunity would be very firmly shut.

She began fitting detonators to smoke bombs and setting timers.

---

Sneaking up the stairs with a wet cloth over her face, Tashigi decided that her attack had been a qualified success. The screams and crashes coming from all around suggested general confusion, but there weren't any cries of, "Arrest all the pirates!" either. She'd hidden in the basement to start with, so as to avoid the first wave of explosions. The headquarters was now full of thick white smoke which hung crisply in the air, veiling walls, combatants, ceilings, floors, and the door five inches from her nose which treacherously got in the way.

As stealthily as she could after that thud, she swung the door open and prowled down the corridor. She'd drawn her sword; anyone getting in her way was going down first and she'd ask questions later.

A screaming group of three pirates reeled past her, punching each other vigorously. She faded back against the wall, letting them stagger past. Nobody seemed to be having dramatic recoveries from hypnosis yet, much to her regret; this three were just arguing about a dice game, each blaming the other for setting the place on fire in order to cover palming the dice.

A more organised patrol of Marines came tramping down the corridor. They'd fixed wet kerchiefs across their faces, like her. Tashigi scrambled behind the door, hand tightening round the hilt of her sword. She was sure she could take them, but the longer she avoided patrols, the better her chance of reaching Bonney.

The Marines stamped past. With a long breath that she didn't realised she'd been holding, Tashigi sidled out again, and continued on, coming to a small door in the wall. Now if this was the standard layout, it should give onto a gallery on the main hall where Bonney had been holding court. She clicked it barely open, let it slowly swing enough to let her through, then fell to hands and knees and crawled through the opening, keeping below the balcony level.

"I find your statement unconvincing," Bonney said. She was sitting upright in her chair now rather than lounging in it, lips thin with irritation, below and to Tashigi's left. There was less smoke in this room, Tashigi noted; unfortunately she hadn't managed to leave any of the smoke bombs close to it. Most of the senior officers and captains had left, though Tashigi could make out Colonel Smoker chewing on a pair of cigars. Kuro was the focus of all eyes, standing near the centre of the room. He was still wearing his blade-gloves, and his glasses shone through the drifting haze like evil moons.

Kuro shrugged. "I killed her. What more needs to be said?"

"I'm told her body's gone."

"Not my concern." Kuro smiled distantly. "I'm more interested in living enemies than dead ones."

"Perhaps you can be a little more talkative under pressure." Bonney snapped her fingers. "Colonel Smoker --"

Kuro was already moving, blades scything towards her. _Of course he wouldn't be stupid enough to stand there and let her finish an order to capture him._ But Colonel Smoker was moving too, body erupting into thick white coils of smoke that spun through the air faster than metal or flesh. He snatched Kuro out of the air mid-pounce, and held him there, body dangling, ten swords cutting at the air impotently.

"-- yes. Thank you." Bonney took a long breath. "Well, I think that we can skip the polite questioning and go straight to the unpleasant bit, don't you? Let's start with . . ."

Tashigi slid her left hand up the side of her face to adjust her glasses. She should retreat. She should leave Kuro and take the opportunity to get out of there, find his crew, regroup, get away, report on the situation to Black Cage Hina. She should do a lot of things.

But it wouldn't be honourable, and it wouldn't be loyal, and most of all, it wouldn't be just. And if a Marine didn't have justice, they had nothing at all.

Better not to wait for a moment; better to make her own moment. She swung herself up to perch on the balcony, and threw herself out in a rolling somersault, landing two steps behind Bonney.

She felt her knee scream at the landing. She didn't have time for that.

One step.

Bonney was good physically, but she wasn't that good. She hadn't been fast enough to expect Kuro's attack. She was only just beginning to turn.

Two steps.

Tashigi had her blade at Bonney's neck. She grabbed Bonney's left wrist as the woman reached for a knife and twisted it up behind her back, using it to hold her steady. "No further, Madam Bonney" she said. "Or someone dies. Probably you."

---


	7. Chapter Seven

**CAT'S CLAW**

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Colonel Smoker billowed, shifting from side to side in what Tashigi recognised as one of his regular strategies -- spread out wide enough to either side of the target that they couldn't keep a full watch on what he was doing, then come round from behind. Her sword pressed deeper into Bonney's bare throat, drawing a trickle of blood. "Tell him to stay where he is," she snapped. "Order him!"

"Stay where you are!" Bonney gasped. She must have a higher opinion of Tashigi's ruthlessness than Tashigi herself did. "Hold position! And hold your captive too!"

"Release Captain Kuro," Tashigi snarled, "or I'll slit your throat here and now!"

"Steady now, Claw," Kuro said. He managed to sound the calmest all of them, even though he was hanging hostage by wrists and neck several feet off the ground. "I wouldn't provoke her if I were you, Madam Bonney. She's the unstable type."

Tashigi growled, and hoped she sounded like a homicidal lunatic.

Bonney bit her lip. "We're at a standoff," she said. "Now if perhaps both sides let go of their hostages and back away --"

"And you have everyone kill us," Kuro pointed out.

"I'm prepared to let you go alive," Bonney said. "I'm not interested in killing you just for the sake of it. I'm not one of the lunatic morons. I want to stay alive and in command. I'm sure you want the same. I don't mind you taking your ship and getting out of here . . ."

"And we need to do it soon, Captain," Tashigi broke in. She had to find a way of telling Kuro that the Straw Hats were incoming without alerting the others, if they didn't know yet. "Those people -- the ones you ran into before --" She was fairly sure that he'd guess who she was talking about. It wasn't as if she knew that much of his history. "They're coming in, they must be after us . . ."

Kuro's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "Well, that gives me a motive for getting out of here fast, Madam Bonney. The question is, can you trust _us_ to let _you_ go without any trouble?"

Tashigi couldn't see Bonney's face, but she suspected the woman was thinking as fast as she could. "Let's compromise," she said. "I'll have the Colonel let you down and stay here. You two can walk with me to the entrance of this place. Then we'll separate at the main door and you can take yourself down to the quay and your ship and out of my life."

It was an obvious trap. It was so obviously a trap it should have **PIRATES THIS WAY FOR TRAP** written on the side. It was insanely, ridiculously, blatantly a trap.

"Very well," Kuro said. "You have a deal."

"Release him," Bonney ordered Colonel Smoker.

Smoker's coils of smoke faded, pulling back into his natural form as he rematerialised a couple of steps behind Kuro.

Kuro landed on the floor on the balls of his feet, smooth and steady, without even letting his blades rasp against each other. "Adjust your sword, Claw," he said, "and move it to behind Madam Bonney so that she can walk more comfortably. We're leaving."

--

Tashigi occupied those parts of her mind not focussed on holding her blade steady with trying to work out where the ambush would come. It took her by surprise when Bonney paused next to one door.

"May we go in here a moment?" she asked. "No tricks, no traps, I just need another cigarette."

Kuro flicked a brief glance at Tashigi, then shrugged when she had no comments to offer other than a generalised stare of blank warning. "Be my guest," he said.

Tashigi was half a pace behind Bonney as she opened the door and stepped inside. The interior of the room hit her like a rainbow in bad taste, with swirls of horrible colour _everywhere_. There was nowhere for her to look. Even the floor and ceiling were painted. The patterns made sense, though, and if she could just look at them a moment longer --

Kuro slapped her hard across the back of her head. Her glasses flew off, reducing the paintings to incomprehensible blobs of violent clashing colour, and she went down on her knees, barely keeping hold of her sword. She was conscious of Kuro stepping across her, kicking the door shut behind him.

"Really," Bonney said. She was sounding more confident now. "You may have been able to resist me elsewhere, Captain Kuro, but I don't think that you'll be able to do so here. Even with your glasses on. Your bodyguard's already kneeling to me."

"You may underestimate me," Kuro said. His voice was as prim as a schoolteacher's, hardly threatening at all. "But I'll make a guess. These paintings of yours -- I suspect they work on the natural hierarchy instinct that so many humans have. They simply convince the person who sees them that you are somewhere superior in their hierarchy, whatever the hierarchy is, and they fill in the mental details themselves."

"You're surprisingly well-informed," Bonney said, a thread of uncertainty in her voice. Her footsteps moved to Tashigi's right. Some instinct kept Tashigi on her knees, feigning confusion and obedience. "But you did have a hypnotist in your crew, didn't you? That Jango fellow."

"I like to stay informed about what my underlings can do," Kuro said blandly. "It makes unpleasantness that much less possible."

Bonney paused. "You've got your eyes shut, haven't you."

"Don't think that means I can't kill you."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

This was all playing for time. Tashigi knew it in her bones. Any moment now, Colonel Smoker or someone else would enter, and Kuro's only defence would be to try to slaughter everything in the room without opening his eyes, and even if Bonney was dead at the end of it . . . well, that was achieving the mission objective in a way, but the collateral was painfully high. (And if it was Colonel Smoker who came in under Bonney's orders, then both she and Kuro were dead in any case.)

Bonney moved again. Her high heels scraped on the floor. Tashigi flung herself towards her in a low tackle, grabbing for the other woman's knees, and heard her yelp as they went down together.

They rolled across the floor, with Bonney thrashing and kicking, and Tashigi trying to work high enough up her body to thump her somewhere painful. Bonney slid a knife into her hand -- probably from her sleeve, Tashigi couldn't see and was too busy trying to stop Bonney cutting her throat with it. She jammed her own elbow into Bonney's stomach, grabbed the other woman's wrist while she was gasping, rolled three times over and onto Kuro's foot, was kicked off it, landed under Bonney and felt Bonney's blade go into her shoulder, headbutted the other woman in the face, finally got on top of her, and slammed her head into the floor till she stopped moving.

"Who won?" Kuro asked mildly.

"Me," Tashigi said, looking around and trying to see her glasses, "sir. She's out for the moment. Do we just leave?"

"Of course not," Kuro said. He took a step backwards, still not opening his eyes, and shut the door, then groped around till he found the latch and locked it. "We take advantage of the situation."

Well. He was the famous Captain Kuro of a Thousand Plans. He must know what he was doing.

"You see, Claw," Kuro said conversationally, "like all good plans, Bonney's scheme relied on a very simple basic concept."

Tashigi managed to find her glasses. She held them in one hand, not wanting to put them on again while she was still in the room. "What's that, sir?"

"Think," Kuro said. "Her paintings caused everyone to obey her -- agreed?"

Tashigi nodded, then realising he couldn't see her, said, "Yes, sir. She confirmed that just now."

"Exactly," Kuro said. "But, and this is the pretty point of the whole scheme, and at the same time its main flaw -- how did they know _whom_ to obey?"

Tashigi frowned. "Well, I suppose the paintings must have made them feel obedient . . . no, wait, that wouldn't work. They'd just have obeyed _anyone_ if they were obeying people."

"Precisely," Kuro said. He adjusted his glasses. "So, the paintings made them obey _her_. So there's something in the paintings keyed to her specifically. And what was the first thing she said to us?"

**Bonney. Call me Bonney.**

Tashigi could feel her mouth sagging open into Gawp Position (as so often demonstrated by Straw Hat Luffy). "Wait a moment," she said. "You mean that the paintings are simply to make people obey _someone called Bonney_?"

Kuro smiled thinly. "Positively blinding in its simplicity, isn't it?"

"But that would never . . ." Tashigi broke off. "But what if someone else said they were Bonney?"

"Why should they?" Kuro pointed out.

"But that's so _obvious_."

Kuro gave a still-eyes-shut look in her direction which suggested very clearly that Tashigi herself had not thought of it.

"But --" Tashigi stopped. "But what do we do now?"

"Well," Kuro said. "There is one obvious solution at hand. Bonney will simply have to resolve matters."

Tashigi looked down at the unconscious woman. "But she'll never --"

"No, no, Claw. You fail to understand. As usual," Kuro added. "I am not saying Bonney will resolve matters. I am saying that 'Bonney' will resolve matters."

Understanding broke over Tashigi with the remorseless horror of a tidal wave and a Sea King attacking during a shipwreck in the middle of a whirlpool. "Oh no," she said thinly.

"Oh yes," Kuro said. "Hurry up. We've probably got a minute to make preparations."

--

Tashigi stepped nervously through the door. The corridor outside was crowded; there was Colonel Smoker, a group of Marines, a number of pirates carrying a battering ram, and they all had swords. Except for Colonel Smoker. Who didn't need one because he could kill her anyhow. Even without her glasses on she could make out the blurred outlines of intense and present menace.

She was wearing Bonney's jacket and boots, and had pushed Bonney's glasses up into her hairline; her Kuro-crew ears were tucked into a pocket. Her head felt oddly naked without them.

There was a growl from the gathered mob. Colonel Smoker lifted his huge jitte from his back and pointed it at her.

"Hello," she said in a little squeak. "I'm Bonney."

The words hung on the air as the growl died away into silence. The mob looked at each other, confused. Colonel Smoker leaned forward, studying her, and suddenly frowned. "Tashigi? What the hell do you think you're doing here, when I left you on orders --"

One of the pirates said, "Wait a moment. If she's Tashigi she can't be Bonney."

"I'm the _other_ Bonney," Tashigi said hastily.

Another long pause.

Then, miraculously, blessedly, in a way that she would remember afterwards in near-disaster nightmares for the next few years, the crowd began to nod, looking at each other in an accepting sort of way. She could even hear someone at the back saying that of _course_ it must be the other Bonney, right?

Tashigi clenched her fists behind her back till the bones of her hands creaked, and looked Colonel Smoker in the (very blurred) eyes. "Two orders. First, I want signals hung on the main tower and at the port to keep ships away for the next few days. Say we've had a breakout of something contagious. Second --"

"Second?" Colonel Smoker rumbled.

"Second," Tashigi said, "I want this whole place whitewashed."

--

When the mob was gone, she opened the door again. Kuro stepped outside, an unconscious and tied Bonney over one shoulder, and opened his eyes. "That's better," he said.

"It actually worked," Tashigi said. She felt weak at the knees with relief -- except, of course, that Marines didn't go weak at the knees with relief. It must be that damaged knee again. That'd explain it.

"What now, Claw?" He seemed honestly curious.

Tashigi tugged at the shoulders on the jacket. It was a fraction too small. She pulled her glasses back down so that she could see him clearly. "Well, sir," she said, "I suppose you're wondering if I'm going to break my word and try to arrest you."

"Pretty much," Kuro acknowledged. He dropped Bonney at his feet. "Does a Marine's word mean anything to a pirate?"

Tashigi sighed. "You'd look down on me if I said it did, Captain Kuro. And you'd be wondering at the same time just how soon I planned to betray you."

"My, my. You have learned something. Apparently even Marines can be taught." He shifted position, rocking from one foot to the other. "And?"

Tashigi swallowed down bitterness. Even Colonel Smoker wouldn't pick a fight where there was no way that he could win. Sometimes there was nothing more that one could do than back down, wait, get stronger, and try again. "And my mission was to capture Bonney. Not you. We both know that I'd like to bring you in, Captain Kuro. But right at this precise moment, we both know that I can't win. And at this precise moment -- if you leave, then you walk out safely, you get the rest of the pay, and Colonel Hina wipes your record, and neither of us actually _loses_."

Kuro's face was impassive. "I don't think I want you on my ship, Claw. I don't approve of my crew being too intelligent."

Tashigi saluted. "Regretfully I offer my resignation, Captain Kuro."

He thought about that. "Let's say . . . that I might owe you something for saving my life. And just this once, I'll break my rule about killing everyone who knows where I am or what I'm up to."

"I'll remember to save your life again if I need anything from you," Tashigi snapped.

"If we're both lucky, that'll never happen," Kuro said. He kicked Bonney towards Tashigi. "Here's your prize, Lieutenant Tashigi. I'm sure the Marine High Command will find something to do with her."

"Lock her up, of course!" Tashigi said.

Kuro sneered. "You may be a little more intelligent, but you're still naive. Far too naive for my crew. Goodbye, Lieutenant Tashigi."

"Goodbye," she said. "Captain Kuro."

"Keep the ears." He turned his back on her, and walked away down the corridor, blades fanning out in his wake like steel ripples.

--

Three days later, after the brainwashing and the shouting and the embarrassment and the threats and the wholesale justice were mostly over, Tashigi looked out at evening from the window over the darkened port below. Kuro's ship was long gone. The Straw Hats had never made it in; they must have believed the disease flags and sheered off well short of land. She tried not to feel too glad about it. They were pirates; it was her job to arrest them.

_One cigar at a time,_ Colonel Smoker often said (before lighting two up). Perhaps she should try to look at it that way. Succeed in one thing at a time, then go on to the next one. She'd saved Colonel Smoker and the whole outpost, she'd captured Bonney . . . and she'd let Captain Kuro get away. Had Colonel Hina really expected her to be able to keep him a prisoner once it was over?

She fingered the cat ears in her pocket.

"Tashigi!" Colonel Smoker snapped from two inches behind her. She lifted off the ground with the force of coming to attention, nearly fell out of the window, caught herself mid-tumble, and managed to brace herself on the frame. "What do you think you're doing, lieutenant?"

"Checking the ships, sir!" she reported. "All as it should be!"

"Good." He bent to peer over her shoulder. "We can be heading out again tomorrow. Good thing, too. This place stinks of paint."

Tashigi was about to nod, when the anomalous word caught her attention. "Heading _out_, Colonel?" she inquired.

"Well, of course we're heading out!" He glared at her. "There are pirates out there, lieutenant! There's a job for the Marines to be doing! Don't tell me you were expecting anything else?"

"I think Colonel Hina was expecting you back at base . . ." Tashigi said cautiously, measuring the growing shade of crimson on Colonel Smoker's forehead. "Of course, she hasn't got any orders to us here yet."

"I imagine they'll be here the day after tomorrow," Colonel Smoker grunted.

"Ah," Tashigi said. "Right. Yes, sir. We sail at dawn tomorrow, then?"

"If not sooner." He chewed on his cigars. "How are you doing otherwise, lieutenant?"

There were a lot of things that she could have said to that. She settled on, "Doing better, sir. Improving. Getting stronger."

He nodded. She saw the flash of approval in his eyes. "You keep on doing that, lieutenant. We've got some way to go yet." He clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Get some sleep."

Tashigi nodded. "Sir," she said, and turned away with a nod.

One cigar at a time. One blade at a time. One step at a time. A captain who wanted excellence and justice.

It might be naive, but she could believe in that.

But she'd keep the ears.

--


End file.
